AudioControl Maestro

The audiocontrol_maestro driver controls AudioControl Maestro home-theater processors/receivers over TCP. It drives the main theater (Zone 1) and the secondary output (Zone 2): power, volume, mute, source selection, surround modes, HDMI output routing, and on-screen menu navigation. Control uses the Maestro's binary IP-control protocol — space-separated hex frames, each ending in a carriage return (0D).

note

This is a different product from the AudioControl Multi-Zone Amplifier (audiocontrol, telnet on port 23), which is a whole-house matrix amp that auto-creates a GEM zone per output. The Maestro is a two-zone home-theater processor; you create its zones by hand.

Prerequisites

• Maestro on the same LAN as GEM, reachable at a static IP or DHCP reservation.
• IP control enabled on the processor's front-panel setup menu, and the IP-control TCP port it is configured for. There is no fixed default — read the port off the unit's setup menu (it is often a high port such as 14999).

Setup

1. System → Devices → Add Device. Choose the AudioControl Maestro driver.

2. Fill in Processor IP and TCP Port. The port must match the IP-control port shown on the Maestro's setup menu — this is the most common reason a Maestro connects but never reports state. Optionally set Status Poll Interval (ms) (default 30000). Save and enable.

3. System → Zones → Add Zone. Create one zone with Address 1 for the main theater. If you use the second output, create a second zone with Address 2. The New Zone editor pre-selects the AV subsystem for this driver — leave it there so the zones surface in the AV routing screens.

   Subsystem placement

   The driver hints the AV subsystem, which is one of the subsystems GEM ships with, so the zone editor pre-selects AV automatically. Membership in AV is what makes these zones available in AV → AV Zones when you bind an AV Zone to an existing zone.

   The processor does not announce its zones — GEM never auto-creates them. Create the 1 (and optionally 2) zone rows yourself.

4. On connect the driver begins polling Zone 1 power → volume → mute once per Status Poll Interval, spacing the three queries about a second apart so it doesn't flood the processor. The reported values land on the device as the power_state, volume, and mute_state attributes.

Using the Maestro as an AV Zone

To drive the theater from an AV touchpanel:

1. AV → AV Zones → create (or bind) an AV Zone. In the Bind to existing zone picker choose the 1 zone you created above.
2. Set the AV Zone's Volume Device to the Maestro device. Its volume slider and mute button then drive Zone 1 of the processor.
3. Source selection from the touchpanel is done through the AV Zone's source on/off macros — put the matching source-select command (bd, sat, stb, cd, …) in each source's On Macro. There is no numeric routing command on this processor; you switch inputs with the named source buttons below.

Zone 2 is manual

The AV Zone Volume Device path always targets Zone 1 — it never passes a zone number, and the driver defaults every command to Zone 1. To control the second output's power/volume/mute, run the command directly (from a macro or the Commands page) with the zone_number argument set to 2. Likewise, the automatic status poll only refreshes Zone 1; poll Zone 2 explicitly with get_power / get_volume / get_mute and zone_number 2 if you need its feedback.

Attributes

Device — required

Attribute	Type	Description
ip	string	LAN IP of the Maestro processor.
port	int	IP-control TCP port configured on the Maestro. No default — match the unit's setup menu.

Device — optional

Attribute	Type	Default	Description
monitor_interval	int (ms)	30000	How often to poll Zone 1 power / volume / mute.

Reflected device attributes

The driver writes live state onto the device (not onto the zone rows). Zone 2 values use a zone_2_ prefix.

Attribute	Type	Values
power_state	string	on / off
volume	int	Current Zone 1 volume, decimal 0–63
mute_state	string	on / off
input	string	Current source name (see the source map below), or the raw hex code if unrecognized
zone_2_power_state	string	on / off
zone_2_volume	int	Zone 2 volume, 0–63
zone_2_mute_state	string	on / off
zone_2_input	string	Zone 2 source name

Zone

• Address required: yes.
• Address format: 1 for the main theater, 2 for the second output.

Commands

Send these from the Commands page, a macro, or a control. Commands that take zone_number accept 1 (main) or 2 (second output) and default to 1 when omitted.

Power

Command	Args	Notes
power_on / power_off	—	Toggle-style front-panel power on/off.
power_standby	—	Put the processor into standby.
discrete_on / discrete_off	—	Discrete (absolute) power on / off.

Volume & mute

Command	Args	Notes
volume	zone_number, volume	Set an absolute level. volume is a decimal 0–63 — the driver converts it to the processor's hex encoding for you. Values above 63 are outside the processor's range.
volume_up / volume_down	—	Step Zone 1 up/down one increment. Safest for touchpanel binding because they need no scaled value.
mute_on / mute_off	—	Zone 1 mute.
mute_toggle	—	Native mute toggle (Zone 1) — GEM sends it directly, no state emulation.

Status queries

Command	Args	Notes
get_power	zone_number	Refreshes power_state.
get_volume	zone_number	Refreshes volume.
get_mute	zone_number	Refreshes mute_state.
get_source	zone_number	Refreshes input (decoded via the source map).
get_direct_mode	—	Query direct-mode state (Zone 1).

Source selection

There is no numeric route command. Pick a source with its named button; GEM reports the current source back through get_source / the input attribute.

Command	Notes
cd bd av sat stb game aux net bt fm arc pvr tuner uhd	Select the corresponding front-panel input.
multi_channel	Select the multi-channel analog input.

The processor reports its current source with these codes (used to fill the input attribute):

Code	Source	Code	Source
00	follow_zone_1	0B	fm
01	cd	0C	dab_europe
02	bd	0E	net
03	av	0F	usb
04	sat	10	stb
05	pvr	11	game
08	aux	1D	uhd
09	display_arc

Audio / video routing

Command	Args	Notes
set_audio_input	zone_number, audio_source	Choose the audio source type: analog, digital, hdmi (or request to query).
set_video_output	output	Route HDMI output: hdmi_1, hdmi_2, hdmi_1_2 (both), or request.
hdmi_out_1 / hdmi_out_2 / hdmi_out_1_2	—	Discrete HDMI-output selection.
set_osd	zone_number, status	On-screen display: on, off, or request.

Surround / listening modes

Command	Notes
stereo / 5_7_stereo	Two-channel / all-channel stereo.
auto_matic	Auto surround selection.
dolby_surround / dolby_digital_ex	Dolby modes.
dolby_volume_toggle	Toggle Dolby Volume.
dts_neo6_cinema / dts_neo6_music	DTS Neo:6 cinema / music.
dts_neuralx / dts_virtualx	DTS Neural:X / Virtual:X.

Menu navigation & display

Command	Notes
up down left right select menu home	On-screen menu navigation.
display_off	Turn the front-panel display off.
display_brightness_toggle	Cycle front-panel brightness.
cycle_output_resolution	Step the HDMI output resolution.
cycle_vfd_info	Cycle the front-panel info readout.
zone_toggle	Toggle the second-output zone on/off.

IR passthrough

Command	Args	Notes
ir_command	zone_number, system_code, command	Emit a raw IR system/command code pair through the processor.

Known quirks

• Every frame is hex ending in 0D. Volume is encoded 00–3F on the wire; in GEM you enter and read it as decimal 0–63.
• Automatic polling covers Zone 1 only. Front-panel or Zone-2 changes only reflect after you query them (see the Zone 2 note above).
• No source-routing number. Sources are chosen with the named buttons (bd, sat, …), not a channel/input index.
• Unrecognized source codes are reported as the raw hex value in input rather than a friendly name.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Check
Connects but no state ever updates	The TCP Port almost certainly doesn't match the IP-control port on the Maestro's front-panel setup menu.
Volume reads look wrong	Volume is decimal 0–63. Make sure nothing else is sending raw values to the same port, and keep any bound slider within 0–63.
Zone 2 never refreshes	The auto-poll only reads Zone 1. Query Zone 2 with get_power / get_volume / get_mute and zone_number 2.
Volume slider on a touchpanel does nothing past a point	Values above 63 are out of range — use volume_up / volume_down, or cap the level at 63.

Related

• Devices
• Zones
• Subsystems
• Commands
• AV Zones
• AV Sources
• AudioControl Multi-Zone Amplifier